‘Blood from a Stone’: Juvenile Justice Fees Cripple the Poor

A report by the Juvenile Law Center in Philadelphia finds that fines, fees and restitution mandates levied on juvenile offenders have the greatest effect on the poor and racial minorities, creating a two-tiered system of justice--one for those who can afford to pay for alternatives to incarceration and another for those who can't . . .

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A Washington State parole board rejected our columnist’s appeal for release from prison for a crime committed when he was a juvenile on the grounds that he had a “moderate to high” likelihood of re-offending. But they appear to have based the decision on a psychological risk assessment tool used to measure adult offenders.

TCR AT A GLANCE

The annual award, which honors individuals in the media or media-related fields who have advanced national understanding of the 21st-century challenges of criminal justice, was presented at a John Jay College dinner Feb. 15. Moyers was most recently executive producer of "Rikers," a documentary on New York's troubled jail facility.

Calling illegal-gun trafficking “contagious,” a Chicago researcher says that despite his city's strict gun control, someone who wants to use a weapon to commit a crime can easily obtain one using social media or other networks on the underground market.

Less than half the rape suspects reported to police end in an arrest, two researchers found in a study of cases investigated by the Los Angeles Police Department and the LA County Sheriff’s Department during 2008. Detectives told the researchers they made arrest decisions based on perceptions about whether the suspect could be successfully prosecuted.

It wasn’t by accident that two presidential actions -- authorizing a crackdown on “bump stocks” and signaling support for a stronger background check system -- are backed by the National Rifle Association. But how will the White House respond to stronger gun-rights measures pending in Congress?

Five days after the shooting at Marjorie Stoneman High School in Parkland, FL, media coverage was higher than it was at the same point after Connecticut's Sandy Hook shootings in 2012. The number of Google searches on gun control remains high.

Splitting 6-3, the Supreme Court said a man who pleaded guilty to possessing firearms on the U.S. Capitol grounds could still file an appeal contending that the law was in conflict with the Second Amendment.